Picard lost all track of
time as the days slipped by. He hardly ever left his quarters, oblivious
to what was going on in the rest of the ship. Fortunately the Enterprise
was engaged in a routine scientific mission. Picard didn't need distractions,
even with the command turned over to Riker. He spent most of his
days sitting on the bed, trying his hardest to penetrate the blank wall
that was Q's mind. Guinan and Data would relieve him, so he could
get some sleep and exercise, but he was never comfortable leaving Q for
very long. His accustomed position for hours at a time was sitting
cross-legged at the head of his bed, Q's head in his lap, his fingers stroking
his patient's hair and forehead as he tried to break through. One
day, finally, he felt the wall of silence that was blocking him seem to
shift, to waver. Picard intensified his concentration and probed
deeper. He felt movement, but he hadn't gotten all the way through,
and his frustration was growing.

* * *

The inner core of Q's consciousness
was almost driven mad with sensory deprivation, boredom, and loneliness.
Q's being had been so utterly drained by his contest with the alien entity
that he didn't have any capacity to chip away at the layers of darkness
and silence that enveloped him. The thought of Picard grew more and
more urgent, but he had no awareness of where he was or that Picard was
with him. He tried to remember how to see or hear or to control the
movements of his adopted human body, but the desire to act never translated
into action. He remembered having been able to create entire star
systems, and the contrast with his current state was almost too much too
bear. Even being human was better than this, he fumed, frustrated
at his utter helplessness. The sensory deprivation in particular
was more and more maddening. Although Q couldn't tell how much time
was passing, he knew that he had not seen or felt anything other than darkness
and silence for what seemed like an eternity. He required diversion
and stimulation, a need that kept him roaming insatiably around the galaxy,
but now he was in a state where even the Continuum seemed like it afforded
an infinite variety of entertainment. Sometimes he diverted himself
by cursing fluently to himself in the thousands of languages he knew, sometimes
he recited books he had memorized to himself, mostly he thought about Picard.

Then, one day, he felt
something. The darkness and silence shifted somehow, as if being
pressed upon from outside. He tried to wait patiently, knowing that
any exertion on his part would make things worse. Something was reaching
into him, probing gently but persistently into his mind. Then he
would have wept with joy if had the energy to produce tears, for he finally
sensed a mental voice break through the silence, calling Q? Q?
Damn it! Answer me!

Q's inner essence cried
out,
Jean-Luc?

The voice returned, gently,
soothingly, I'm here, Q. I'm not going anywhere. What can
I do?

Just talk to me, please.
Please stay. I feel like I've been waiting for you forever.

I feel like I've been
trying to get through to you forever. I won't leave you, but I'm
afraid you might be exerting yourself too much talking to me.

I'm not exerting myself
at all, actually. Don't you realize you're reading my mind, Jean-Luc?
I don't have the energy to project answers back. I can 'hear' you
and answer to myself, but you're reading my mind. The tables have
certainly turned, haven't they?

You're going to be all
right. It's just going to take some time.

Where am I? The
entity? What happened?

You're on board the
Enterprise. You're safe. The entity has been destroyed.
Picard's anger at the being that had so harmed Q and threatened him began
to return. The tone of his mental voice had a hard edge to it, as
he continued, It made for a rather satisfying explosion, actually.

I'm in awe. It
seems I've underestimated you, mon Capitaine. I won't make that mistake
again.

I just remembered some
advice a friend gave me. Something about the mind being everything.

You're in my quarters,
lying on my bed. You've been here for days without moving.
Guinan and Data have also been sitting with you, and your friend from the
Continuum was here.

Q? Good old Q.
Tell me more--what are you doing right now?

Picard hesitated.
Your head is on my lap, he replied slowly, and I am holding one
of your hands, and my other hand is stroking your forehead. Satisfied?

Really, Picard, I didn't
think you'd be the type to take advantage of a helpless entity. Have
you been doing anything else to me that I ought to know about?

NO!

A pity. And Jean-Luc?

Yes?

You shouldn't snap at
a guy when he's down.

Sorry, but you were
asking for it. Listen, Q, I would love to continue this conversation,
but this process is rather exhausting for me. Telepathy doesn't exactly
come naturally to me. But I'll be back. I promise.

I understand.
I really am going to need your help when I'm ready to start pushing my
way out of here.

I know. Q?

Yes, Jean-Luc?

You can't begin to imagine
what a relief it is to have you back.

Je t'aime, Jean-Luc.

* * *

After Picard had fortified
himself with a meal and a nap, he returned to the bed. Settling himself
in in his accustomed position, he reached into Q's mind.

How are you feeling?

Bored out of my mind,
but delighted to hear your 'voice.' Jean-Luc, I've got to at least
get the equivalent of my senses back. You can't imagine what it's
like--complete darkness, total silence. I do have a lot of mental
resources with which to amuse myself, but the sensory deprivation is driving
me insane. And when one of us goes insane, it's not pretty.

I can imagine.
I'm ready. What can I do?

I need some of that
Picardian energy and drive. Whenever I try to push the darkness away
on my own, it just closes in more. To use an old earth term, I need
a jumpstart, although I don't know exactly how you're going to give it
to me. We'll have to play it by ear.

OK, give me a minute
to focus. Picard settled himself in more comfortably, reached
down and took each of Q's hands in his own, then began a process with which
he was now fairly familiar, blocking out all distractions and considerations.
Then he began the process of probing deeply into Q's mind, penetrating
through the layers of unconsciousness, going deeper than he had before.
Suddenly he was overwhelmed; he had accessed Q's knowledge and memory,
and it was flooding into his brain.

Block that out,
insisted Q's mental voice, you can't handle it.

Quite so, replied
Picard. He erected a mental dam against the flood of information.

Once he had done so, he
began experiencing precisely what Q was experiencing. He felt his
senses slipping away as his mind was shrouded in a darkness and silence
so absolute that Picard felt as though he had slipped into the vacuum of
space. The sense of nothingness was devastating, but Q's voice brought
him back sharply. Don't lose yourself. That won't help either
of us. This isn't the time for our minds to join. If you want
to try it some time, it'd be my pleasure, but now is not the time.

Picard began pulling back
a little mentally. He was still observing Q's remaining mental space
enclosed in darkness and silence, but he had regained a sense of his own
mind as well. Jumpstart, huh? he thought to himself.
Picard squeezed Q's hands tighter and began imagining a beam of energy
flowing from his mind to Q's. He poured all of his mental energy,
all of his concentration, all of his feeling for Q and his desire for his
recovery into this beam, and it began to work. The darkness began
to clear and dissipate and fade. A flood of light poured into Q's
mind.

I think you've done
it, remarked Q's mental voice.

Picard gently disengaged
his mind from Q's and opened his eyes. A delighted grin broke out
on his face when he saw that Q had, finally, opened his as well.
From Q's perspective, the first thing he saw was Picard's head hovering
over his, upside down, as he was lying on his back with his head on Picard's
lap. He first thing he felt was Picard's hands tightly gripping both
of his. He spoke, and his voice was weak, but audible. "This
is rather intimate, isn't it, mon Capitaine? Are you sure you haven't
been taking advantage of me?"

"Don't go, but I think
I would like the pleasure of seeing your face right side up."

Picard extricated himself
from where he was sitting, then repositioned himself on the edge of the
bed, facing his patient and once again taking his hands into his own.
Q's eyes roamed hungrily over Picard's face, then he said very quietly,
"God, you're beautiful. This little room in this pathetic little
ship seems like paradise. You know, I may have just learned how to
appreciate simple things." Picard smiled, stroking Q's hands.

"Now what?" asked Picard.

Q tried lifting up his
hand and arm, but it flopped quickly back on the bed. "Not much,
I'm afraid. I think I just have to lie here and wait for my strength
and powers to regenerate. It's frustrating as hell, but from what
I understand of my condition, I can't push myself too hard, or I'll regress.
It takes a lot of energy to keep one of us going, and when that gets completely
drained, it takes a while for it to be restored. And I really hate
being helpless like this. I hope you're patient, Picard, because
I'm going to be a real pain."

"So what's new?" asked
Picard with a grin. Then more softly, "Be as much of a pain as you
want. I'm so delighted to have you back that I can put up with whatever
you can dish out."

"Well, I'm going to be
very demanding."

"Demand away."

"How about a hug?"
Picard bent down, sliding his arms around Q, half-lifting him, and Q managed
to drape his own arms loosely along Picard's back. There they remained
for close to a minute, then Picard gently rearranged his patient back on
the bed.

"You should rest, but let
me know when you're ready for visitors. There are quite a few people
who are going to want to see you."

Q nodded. "I want
to see them too."

Picard paused for a moment.
"Now that you're conscious, Q, I really should return to my duties.
You'll have all the company you desire, but you should rest, too.
And I'll spend my free hours with you."

"I am, after all, installed
in your quarters. I understand, Jean-Luc. I'm flattered you
relinquished your command for me in the first place."

"That's ridiculous, Q.
How could I have done differently?"

* * *

Over the next several days,
Q received a stream of visitors to keep him occupied. Having been
deprived of sights, sounds, and company for so long, he took an ecstatic
delight in each of his visitors, marvelling at the details of their appearances
and the quirks of their personalities. Data's yellow eyes and
desire to be human, Guinan's outlandish wardrobe and knowing smile, Deanna
Troi's physique and reassuring demeanor, Geordi's warmth and directness,
Riker's breezy confidence--all this and more was a source of infinite fascination
for him. Unable to move around or use his powers, Q immersed himself
in human individuality. His visitors may have been flawed and limited,
but they had a tremendous amount to offer as well. Even Worf paid
him a visit. Gruffly, he acknowledged, "That was the act of a warrior
to encounter that being alone. That took courage."

"I appreciate the sentiment,
Klingon," replied Q, "but actually, it was pretty stupid of me. It
all came from underestimating your Captain."

"That was a mistake," said
Worf with a quick smile, "but taking the responsibility to protect your
friends and face a more powerful foe is something I can admire."

"Thank you, Worf, but I'm
going to dissipate your admiration somewhat by admitting that I'd just
as soon not be in that situation again. I'm much more comfortable
being the most powerful being around. This," Q gestured at
the bed, indicating his own helplessness, "is driving me crazy."

Worf nodded sympathetically.

Q's willingness to sacrifice
himself for the crew definitely enhanced his popularity. One evening,
as Picard was returning to his quarters, Riker was on his way out.
The first officer turned back to Q, who was sitting up in bed, "You're
sure you don't want to join us for poker? I'm sure the Captain wouldn't
mind us convening in here."

Q laughed. "Thanks,
Riker, but even if I don't have my powers back, I have restored my telepathic
abilities. I'm not nearly as virtuous as you're imagining me.
Cheating just comes naturally to me."

Riker shrugged and left.
Q turned anxiously to Picard, "Jean-Luc, now that I can read your mind
again, I want to watch your encounter with that creature, if you don't
think it would be too hard on you. I really want to watch that puppy
blow up." Picard looked startled at the hardness in Q's voice.
Q had been so preoccupied with his own recovery, that he hadn't been dwelling
on his fury at what had been done to him.

Picard said, "All right,
if you don't think it will be too hard on you."

"I can take it."

Picard sat down on the
edge of the bed, nodded, and said, "Be my guest."

He felt Q's mind entering
his own and observed that Q seemed to be sifting through his memories until
he found what he wanted. Then Q selected Picard's entire confrontation
with the alien entity, starting from the time Picard had come up with his
plan. They both watched the memories unfolding in Picard's mind,
and Picard realized that Q was able to extricate his memories much more
vividly than he could himself. He was almost reliving the experience.
Q watched with admiration and wonder as the being which had so crippled
him exploded, replaying the moment a few times with satisfaction.
After he disengaged his mind from Picard's, he sighed and smiled, and remarked,
"Now that feels much better." Then he paused and said slowly, "You
know you enhanced that phaser beam, don't you?"

"Well, yes," said Picard,
"Geordi made modifications before we departed . . ."

Q exploded, "Will you ever
stop being so dimwitted, Picard? You enhanced it with your mind.
It couldn't have drilled through that shell by itelf."

"No, no," said Picard,
shaking his head, "I didn't, I couldn't." Having the power to communicate
telepathically with Q was one thing, being able to manipulate matter and
energy with his mind was something else altogether, and he wasn't ready
for it.

"Yes, you did. You
may not ever be able to do it again, but in this case, shall we say, you
rose to the occasion. You never cease to amaze me, Jean-Luc."

* * *

Q's powers were returning
slowly, but he had to exert all of his self-discipline to prevent himself
from trying to do too much too soon. He was beginning to get restless,
but it took him several days to realize that he was actually enjoying all
the attention he was getting from Picard, Data, Guinan, and the others,
especially Picard. He still felt chagrined about how helpless he
was, but when Picard sat with him, rubbing his shoulders or forehead, he
basked in the sensation; there was something enticing about being taken
care of. Still, with each passing day, Q's restlessness grew.
As his recovery progressed, he became more and more uneasy about his need
for Picard's company and more and more anxious to regain his usual self-sufficiency.

As Q recovered, his blond
compatriot made regular visits to check on his progress. On one such
occasion, Picard had been in the room, sitting on the bed with Q and urging
him not to exert himself. After he had to return to the bridge, the
second Q appeared in the room, remarking, "I honestly don't know what
you see in him. I'll grant you, he's cute, but don't you feel like
you're degrading yourself just a leetle bit by consorting with a human?"

"Jealous?"

The second Q didn't reply,
so Q pressed his question more forcefully: "Are you jealous?"
Without waiting for an answer, Q invaded his companion's mind, then laughed
gleefully, "You are jealous! And of a mere human, yet."

"You never learn, do you?"
snapped the second Q. "You have absolutely no respect for anyone's
privacy, but if anyone presumes to make the slightest intrusion on yours,
you blow up."

"Hmm," mused Q mockingly,
"Knowledge is power, and I always did like to be on top. And
you knew that from the start. But you have no right to complain,
my sweet--our separation was your idea."

"Yes, because it was obvious
you were suffocating with boredom. You had probed every recess of
my mind, and you had nothing left to discover. But every time I tried
to read you, to figure out where I stood, you lost your temper and threw
barriers up in every direction. You locked me out, while forcing
me to remain open to you, and the only clear emotion that I could register
from you was boredom--what choice did I have?"

"Not much, I'll grant you--if
I was going with myself, I would have broken up with myself long before
you did," conceded Q, "but you certainly didn't waste any time getting
your revenge. I may have been insufferable, but I never would have
betrayed you the way you betrayed me. You turned the Continuum against
me. You put me in charge of testing humans because you were sure
they would pass the tests, and I would be humiliated. You exiled
me, and you stripped me of my powers. But your campaign against me
backfired, dear; thanks to your insistence that I be assigned humans, the
most dreaded research assignment in the Continuum, I have met the one being
in the universe I can really care about. You have only yourself to
blame."

"If you weren't bedridden
. . . " fumed Q's fellow entity. "I don't know why I'm talking to
you anyway. I wish you joy of your Captain, and I wish him luck--he'll
need it. If I'm jealous, it's because my memory of what a plague
you are is obviously much too short. Fortunately for me, the memories
are flooding back."

Q smiled, almost affectionately;
his newly-developping capacity for forgiveness was overriding his usual
tendency to hold a grudge until the end of time. He noted, "Well,
that should cure your lovesickness for a while, Q. Isn't there anyone
else?"

Q's blond companion sighed,
and he said softly, "I've been with others who were a lot easier to get
along with, but none anywhere near as intoxicating as you. I'd better
go. How about a kiss for old times' sake?"

Q complied with his compatriot's
request. The second Q then raised a hand in farewell, admonishing
Q, "Try to keep out of trouble, OK?" Then he couldn't resist adding,
"You, in love with a human--what a delicious irony." He immediately
rematerialized on the bridge. The bridge crew was no longer startled
by these sudden arrivals and departures, but the silent conversation being
carried on between the stranger and the Captain roused their curiosity.
It was to remain unsatisfied however.

Captain, announced
the second Q, I'm going to take my leave. Your patient is well
on the road to recovery. And, Captain . . .

Yes?

Take care of him, OK?
He needs someone to keep an eye on him.

Picard smiled and nodded.
I'll
do my best, but it won't be easy.

You're telling me.
Good luck. You'll need it.

Light blazed, and the blond
Q was gone. Picard realized the two Qs had a history. He
certainly does get around, doesn't he? he mused to himself.

* * *

Picard's prediction that
taking care of Q wouldn't be easy came true sooner than he would have anticipated.
For all his vaunted self-sufficiency, Q had a tremendous desire to be looked
up to and a corresponding distaste at being belittled in any fashion.
One reason he had returned repeatedly to the Enterprise over the
years to torment Picard was to get back at him for the mockery the Captain
inflicted on him. The more Picard revealed his utter contempt for
Q, the more crucial it became for Q to force Picard to bend to his will.
He repeatedly laid traps for Picard, rigging the scenarios he set up so
that Picard would be proven wrong again and again. Q was equally
sensitive to the opinions of his fellow Qs. His overwrought anger
at Picard after his confrontation with the Continuum was in direct proportion
to his sense of humiliation that his pet had failed so miserably.
And now he had had to put up with his colleague's derision at his choice
of love interests. It was hard enough for him to accept that he was
utterly captivated by a mere human, but to be the object of Continuum gossip
was too much altogether. He was a Q, after all, and a Q never needed
anyone or anything. Relationships were a way of whiling away time
and adding spark to a monotonous existence, but liasons with members of
inferior species were simply a means to an end. A humanoid love object
could be no more than a pet because it would be both degrading and undignified
actually to fall in love with such a lesser being. Q couldn't believe
he had forgotten himself to such an extent as to let Picard become that
important to him.

When Picard returned to
his quarters, he found that Q had developed an attitude. He sensed
it as soon as he walked in the door, and he had no intention of rolling
over and playing dead for Q's benefit. Q may have been in the mood
to dish out abuse, but Picard wasn't having any. Q was lying on the
couch, his feet propped up on the arm, paging idly through a book.
He didn't bother to turn his head when Picard entered, but after a few
moments, he released the book, which drifted a couple of feet above the
couch and remained there. "He's cute, isn't he?" asked Q laconically.

"Who?"

"My friend from the Continuum.
Don't you think he's cute?"

"I hadn't noticed," replied
Picard equally laconically. "It doesn't occur to me to assess men
or entities in male form for that matter in terms of their relative cuteness."

Q turned his head toward
Picard for the first time, "And that's because in that respect as in so
many ways you're still the narrow, limited creature you were when I met
you, Picard. After all my attempts to open your mind, you remain
entrenched in your close-minded little world-view."

"It's true," said Picard,
maintaining his mild demeanor, although he couldn't prevent an edge of
frost from creeping into his voice, "I haven't been making strenuous efforts
to raise myself to your exalted level. You and I may share many qualities,
but I'm not going to modify the rest of myself so I can serve as a more
perfect mirror for you. If you're looking for a reflection of your
own glory, you're not going to find it in me, a mere human."

"Is that what you
think I'm looking for, Picard?" said Q in a steely tone. "Don't flatter
yourself that I could ever begin to think of you as a mirror. You
couldn't even come close. I hadn't realized how refreshing it was
to converse with someone whose mind is capable of sustaining some actual
ideas. Of course, you couldn't possibly understand what it's like."

Q yawned and stretched
as he got up from the couch. "Well, my limited friend, you may have
had one substantial triumph, but frankly, you've still got a long
way to go. Whether you like it or not, I'm responsible for you now,
remember? You're still much too flawed to be allowed to roam around
the galaxy on your own."

That did it. Picard's
patience was at an end. "Q, I am tired of this. I am neither
your property nor your pet. And I want you out of here NOW!"

"You can't tell me what
to do, human. I'm not going anywhere."

"Suit yourself."
Picard stretched out comfortably on the couch, put up his feet, and began
thumbing through a book, studiously ignoring Q. The book flew out
of his hands and upward, where it remained hovering near the ceiling.
Picard folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"We'll just have to see
how long your arrogance can hold out," threatened Q.

As Picard watched in numb
amazement, his quarters began to melt away. As the walls melted,
they spun dizzily in a vertigo-inducing blur. As the spinning motion
slowed down, he found himself standing alone on a small plateau near the
top of a large volcano, who knows where, a short walk from the lip of the
crater, which was emitting billows of steam. Q, damn it! he
exclaimed in his head, You don't need to do this. For pity's sake,
I know what you're capable of. You don't need to prove anything to
me.

No reply.

All right, then, very
well. We'll play your little game. I've never seen a volcano
erupt from this close before. I'm sure it will be very educational.
Picard walked up to the lip of the crater and gazed in. The volcano
clearly was close to erupting. Picard watched the yellow and orange
and black swirls of molten lava boiling furiously. Very impressive,
display, Q, continued Picard. Although he heard no reply, he
still could sense that Q was listening. Certainly a more creative
way of blowing off steam, if you'll pardon the expression, than smashing
one's fist into a wall or shattering a glass. Picard smiled at
his own small joke.

He then returned to the
point a couple hundred feet from the rim where he had first found himself
and waited, watching the bursts of steam from the crater and remarking
mentally,
I won't grovel or beg for help, so if that's what you're looking
for, you won't get it. As the mountain began to rumble and shake,
he felt an instinctive clutch of fear, which he instantly dismissed.
With a devastating roar, the top of the volcano blew right off. As
Picard watched, huge chunks of rock whizzed past his head, and hot molten
lava coursed furiously downhill. Picard remained standing, his arms
folded, as the river of lava parted around the small plateau where he stood,
then merged again below him. The sky filled with steam and smoke,
and the ground continued to shake, without, however, knocking Picard off-balance.
He was actually enjoying himself, almost hypnotized by watching the glistening,
surging flow of lava.

As the eruption began to
subside, Picard felt himself as if in the center of a whirlpool.
The world around him spun dizzily and rapidly, finally slowing until he
found himself back on the couch in his quarters, alone. An instant
later, the hovering book drifted down from the ceiling and into his hands.
Well, Q, you certainly think of everything, said Picard as he sighed
and put down the book to indulge in a sustained stretch.

No reply.

Q, I'm sorry if this
is a blow to your ego, but you didn't frighten me. Not this time.
And you're hopelessly dim if you haven't figured out by now that I trust
you. Absolutely. You can annoy the hell out of me, but you
can't frighten me. Don't you get it, you half-witted entity?
I trust you.

No reply.

I know you're listening,
and I can just imagine how furious you are that your little display did
not have the desired effect. Nice try, though, he concluded helpfully.

Still no reply. With
a sigh Picard strode out of his quarters and headed for Ten-Forward.
He walked in and headed for a corner table. Guinan immediately made
him a drink then went over to join him.

"Lovers' quarrel?" she
asked with a smile, as she sat down.

Picard raised the drink
slightly, saying "Thanks." He continued, "Guinan, Q and I are not
lovers. I don't know what we are, but it's not that.
But you're right about the quarrel part. And he made an impressive
display of temper. He's probably fuming that he didn't terrify me."

Guinan laughed. "I've
experienced his tantrums. He's very inventive."

"Quite so," acknowledged
Picard. "Well, it's partially my fault. Why do I let him get
under my skin so easily? I ought to understand what's going on.
His friend was probably giving him a hard time about me, but even more,
he probably really resents his dependence these days. After all,
I had to come to his rescue--knowing Q, that's probably eating away
at him. I know him well enough now that I should be able to see when
he really just needs some understanding, but instead I just take his bait
over and over again."

Guinan smiled and nodded
sympathetically. "Q is a person like the rest of us--emotionally
he's as human as you are, perhaps even more so. He just has a much
larger canvas on which to express himself."

"Thanks," said Picard,
raising his eyebrows, "even you're accusing me of being inhuman."

"Well, Picard, you do hold
yourself to an impossibly high standard. For example, you're entitled
to get pissed off at Q. He can be very childish, as you've just experienced.
Unlike most members of the Continuum, Q is constantly exploding with energy.
He can't channel that energy toward any constructive purpose, the way you
can, because he can have whatever he wants whenever he wants it.
So he's always looking for an outlet. And he has a great deal invested
in his image of himself as a self-sufficient, autonomous being, an outlaw
if you will. He has tremendous powers and knowledge and intelligence,
even for a Q, but he has no experience in adapting himself to others.
He's always been able to find romantic partners because of the force of
his personality, but he's always left them at the first suggestion that
he might have to give or compromise, or he's driven them away, which amounts
to the same thing. Given this self-image he's constructed, it's inevitable
there are going to be fireworks when coming up against a personality as
strong as yours. He's actually adjusted very well to being on board
the ship; I was worried he'd blow us to bits accidently from sheer nervous
energy, but he's been successful at channeling that, which is quite an
accomplishment for Q. You're just going to have to put up with the
occasional explosion because his self-control inevitably runs out.
But next time you see him, he'll be much calmer. If he picks fights
with you, it's just one of his ways of dissipating energy, but it also
helps him maintain his sense of his own dignity. I don't think you
really understand yet what you mean to him, Captain, and how hard it must
be for him to acknowledge that there exists a being that means that
much to him."

"It is hard for me to understand
that because I don't know what it can mean for an entity of his power and
immortality to become attached to a mortal. Data once said he thought
Q's fascination with me was like that of a master with a beloved pet .
. ."

"That may have been the
case in the past, but it isn't now, and you know it," said Guinan almost
reproachfully. "What it means for an entity of his power to become
attached to you is exactly what it would mean for any of us to become attached
to someone. His powers are altogether in another dimension, or several,
as is his lifespan, but emotionally he's absolutely human, Picard.
He has needs, desires, vulnerabilities, and fears, and a very human instinct
to protect himself from revealing those fears and vulnerabilities.
You're not so different in that respect. In fact, you two are very
much like."

Picard nodded. "Of
course, that's why we get along so badly."

Picard went back to his
quarters and sat back thoughtfully on the couch. Within a few moments
he heard the door chime. "Come." To his surprise, it was Q.
While Q had improved his manners when visiting other shipmates, he had
never used the door chime when visiting Picard. He had always simply
appeared. Q walked in and began to pace. His eyes were downcast,
but Q was trying to muster his usual smile.

He paused for a moment,
then said, "Your trust means everything to me, but I don't deserve it."

"Yes, you do," replied
Picard. "Since you've been on this ship, you've never violated it.
That's not to say you aren't a royal pain, because you are," he continued
with a slight smile.

"You're not sorry," said
Picard, but he was smiling. "At least you're not sorry about your
little performance, which I enjoyed tremendously, by the way. If
you're sorry about anything, it's that you didn't achieve the victory you
were looking for."

"I suppose you're right.
I'm a hopeless fool, and everything you said about me before was true."

"Don't you see? You
can threaten all you want, and I know you have the capacity to overpower
me or kidnap me or brainwash me, but I know with equal certainty you'd
never actually do it."

"It's true," said Q as
he continued to pace. "I care about you too much for that.
I just felt like you were taking me for granted ever since you came galloping
to my rescue. It's not that I'm ungrateful, but I felt this irresistible
impulse to try to force you to acknowledge my power."

"I do acknowledge it.
I would never underestimate you. I just have complete confidence
you won't harm me. But just because you've earned my trust doesn't
mean I take you for granted. You're much too impossible ever to take
for granted."

"I'm glad to hear it.
I am sorry for being so petty though."

Picard smiled, "I wasn't
exactly on my best behavior either."

"Well, I started it, as
I usually do. I did warn you I wouldn't be easy to get along with."

Picard laughed. "I
never for a moment imagined you would be. In fact I'd probably be
disappointed if all of a sudden you were. But you needn't feel diminished
because you didn't frighten me. I never forget for a moment that
you have the power to do whatever you want with me."

Q smiled slightly, "Well,
the truth is, Jean-Luc, you can do whatever you want with me.
That's not a position I'm used to."